Trailblazing PhD researcher joins global list of rising stars
Huddersfield PhD researcher Shavindree Nissanka has been named as one of the Women of the Future 50 rising stars in ESG.
This celebrates female trailblazers and role models aged 35 and under from around the world who are at the forefront of working in ESG: Environmental, Social and Governance.
To be selected to be part of this prestigious global list, participants need to have made a lasting and positive impact on their organisations, the environment and wider society.
Originally from Sri Lanka, PhD researcher Shavindree Nissanka works within the Global Disaster Resilience Centre (GDRC) at the University of Huddersfield under the supervision of GDRC Co-Director Professor Dilanthi Amaratunga.
Safe housing for everyone
Shavindree’s research identified an urgent need to facilitate safe housing for everyone in the face of natural hazards and their cascading impacts on human habitats. However, with the limited resources and economic constraints in the modern world investing in resilience requires additional financial support. In order to address this challenge Shavindree is proposing a financial incentive strategy for the housing sector to promote its disaster resilience, by exploring the concept of disaster-resilient housing, and methods and approaches on how to promote disaster-resilient housing by using financial incentives.
Making the world a better place
In her entry video for these awards Shavindree talks about her passion for making the world a better place and her decision to pursue a career in environmental sustainability and governance.
When asked about this achievement Shavindree commented: “It’s a great honour for me to be selected as one of the rising stars in ESG, and this recognition has inspired me more towards my commitment to addressing the real-world challenges in environmental and disaster risks. I am very privileged to be a part of the Global Disaster Resilience Centre, which has nurtured me in many ways to take a leading role in Environmental, Social and Governance, leading me to this award.”
GDRC Co-Director Professor Dilanthi Amaratunga commented: “Since Shavindree joined GDRC, she has been a very proactive researcher, she plans her work, commits to her agreed schedule, and fulfils all her obligations, and nothing makes me happier than her taking full responsibility and to be able to do so independently.”
Award-winning research
This isn’t Shavindree’s first recognition for her research at Huddersfield, having previously received an award for the most highly commendable paper in the category of Finance and Risk Management at the International Sustainable Ecological Engineering Design for Society (SEEDS) Conference 2022. In addition, Shavindree also won an award for the best presentation at the International Research and Innovation Symposium on Dengue amidst the pandemic: Improving preparedness and response for multi-hazard scenarios in Sri Lanka in 2022 under the theme “Complex and interconnected multi hazard risks: The nature of cascading impacts and relationships”.
Shavindree was also runner-up with her entry at the International Competition for Imagining Disaster Resilient Infrastructure, organised by the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure, which is a partnership of national governments, UN agencies and programmes, multilateral development banks and financing mechanisms, the private sector, and knowledge institutions that aims to promote the resilience of new and existing infrastructure systems to climate and disaster risks in support of sustainable development.